Got an F on a college essay for swearing?

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Dear College Professor

I wish to apologize for the inappropriate tone of my essay and hope for your understanding and clemency as I ask for the opportunity to repeat the assignment.

This subject is one that is intensely emotional for me and due to the subject matter being something that has effected me on a deeply personal level it is hard for me to retain a level of objectivity and professionalism when discussing it.

That being said I fully recognize how utterly inappropriate the essay I delivered was and I apologize unreservedly for it. I will ask the university for any help and support they can give in writing in a formal, academic way and will in the future ensure that my writings achieve and maintain a high level of professionalism and academic standard that this institution expects of me.

I would like the chance to redo this assignment and prove to you and myself that I am more than capable of writing in a mature, balanced and professional way.

Thank you



Send your professor something like that OP, whether you get the chance to redo the assignment or not, the professor might soften up on you a little bit.

Dear College Professor

I apologies for my fucked up essay. I got shitfaced and hammered it out in as little time as possible.

Can I redo it?

Fucking thanks and shit
 
OP's out of his mind. It should be fucking obvious.

Unless, jokes aside, the essay wasn't strictly academic (meaning scientific research) but more literary (a short story or something more personal).

Either way, common sense I guess.
 
Dear College Professor

I apologies for my fucked up essay. I got shitfaced and hammered it out in as little time as possible.

Can I redo it?

Fucking thanks and shit

Your cool right come on be cool dont be a jerkof and let me redo my fucking essay you prik
 
OP's out of his mind. It should be fucking obvious.

Unless, jokes aside, the essay wasn't strictly academic (meaning scientific research) but more literary (a short story or something more personal).

Either way, common sense I guess.

I'd be very interested in seeing what the actual assignment was. All the OP said was "essay" which I interpreted as an academic or persuasive essay, but perhaps it was a creative writing assignment.
 
I'd be very interested in seeing what the actual assignment was. All the OP said was "essay" which I interpreted as an academic or persuasive essay, but perhaps it was a creative writing assignment.

It seemed to be some sort of essay in response to a video on Elderly abuse so no probably not in fact a creative writing assignment.
 
Don't feel bad, OP. Most college students are shitty writers. You'll get better. But take the advice here seriously. Does your college have a writing center? Those are usually helpful.

Get some good books too. I'm a big fan of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. And read a lot from good publications and writers. Very easy today with the internet.
I’d say reading Elements of Style is good advice for anyone who needs to write as part of their occupation. I try to read it every 5 years as basic hygiene, and writing is a relatively small part of my job.
So yeah, if you’re in College, read it attentively.
 
Lol it didn't say I "couldn't" swear in the syllabus. It probably doesn't say that you shouldn't smear shit on the last page but that is also poor form.
 
This thread is savage lol. OP, like pretty much everyone else said, failing the paper is on you. Your audience is academic, specifically your professor or a TA, not a forum. The language used was inappropriate for a formal audience.
 
My problems with this are both words are proper English and in the course syllabus it is never stated curse words are grounds for lower grades. In my English 104 course I've used swears multiple times without penalty. Is this bias on her part or am I really supposed to censor my writing?

The syllabus also doesn't say anything about taking a shit, smearing it on a piece of paper, and handing it in to your professor for your submission. But guess what -- you shouldn't do that either.

Stop being edgy, apologize to the professor, and grow up.
 
I'd be very interested in seeing what the actual assignment was. All the OP said was "essay" which I interpreted as an academic or persuasive essay, but perhaps it was a creative writing assignment.

Doesn’t matter, outside of the random fucks and shits it was poorly written in less than two hours while drunk; the cursing was the least of the problems.
 
You know I've been wanting an excuse to share since forever:

This is an old joke track recorded for AFSCME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvu0WEYNGiY

This is hilarious as all hell but for those saying why ca't we just swear up a storm in an academic essay, would you think this is appropriate to air on television?

Context matters: As a joke reel to share privately this is a real fucking gem, but it's less than useless as a real PSA.

Same goes for vulgarity in writing... in the right context it's fine, in an academic setting when it's a not a proper and relevant citation or the subject matter? It belittles whatever point you're trying to make.
 
When I was in college and a teacher had to preface an assignment by saying don't do this or don't do that, I always wondered who would be stupid enough to do that in the first place.

After reading this thread, it's starting to make sense.
 
College professor in English Literature here. The OP's excerpts aren't appropriate in either language or content, unless the prof was upfront about being open to this kind of language/personal stream of consciousness type writing. I'm not sure I would give the paper an F right out because of this - in fact, no, I wouldn't - but it would definitely give me pause and cause to write a "Hey OP, let's talk about this" message in the front. At the very least, I'd ask for a re-submission.

Part of college/university is learning how to interact with the real world; writing essays is, in part, about training your mind to use language and structure an argument in a convincing way. If the prof accepts the OP's paper, he/she is validating that this is accepted discourse in the real world. It's not. If the OP had come to the prof in advance and said "This is a really personal and important topic to me, can I write something that's a little more raw and rough?", there may have been a chance that the prof would be into it. As it, it seems like the instructor was blindsided and this approach didn't sit well. Know your audience...which is a lesson for college and, all the more so, in the real world.
 
OP just needs to tell their professor that they now know how George Washington felt when he surrendered Fort Necessity to the French in 1754.
 
This thread went fast... wow.

Okay, so it looks like I'm in the wrong, but, this doesn't explain why I need to censor myself as a writer. Maybe I'm simply unfiltered but I think that's a good thing, I figured in high school you'd avoid that, but in college you're an adult, you can freely write how you want and get your opinions across without having to worry if you tailor it to whoever is reading it, since it's your work. Maybe I'm getting angry about nothing however I don't understand how your choice of language is something you can be penalized for. I re-read the essay and admittedly I recognize some things that could be fixed but even with that scrutiny and barring in mind this isn't my writing course a B seems perfectly fair. Have a read but I know I'm about to get dogged on like crazy regardless. No, I'll just post the relevant uses of swears. It's partially too personally and I'm not rewriting the damn thing.

"Watching the film was really sad, quite morbid, fucked up, and too close to home"

"It went from "I don't care about you" to "fuck you" and I still feel that
way to this day"

"They're awful, sickening, fucked realities"

"The emotional problems my REDACTED still suffers from REDACTED, I've came to the point
where if REDACTED REDACTED died today, right now, I wouldn't give a shit"

"Apologizes that are all bullshit and
emotions that end up with the person hurting more and more"

"... And I'm not rewriting the damn thing."
"... a B seems perfectly fair."

With that extremely entitled attitude, combined with very poor writing that is not fit for a college paper, I recommend two things:

1. Take a remedial writing class, so you can learn how to write like an adult; and
2. Learn the process of critical thinking. I'm sorry if the subject matter is an emotional one for you, but that's just the point: there's a time and place for everything. You can get emotional with friends, and family, or on internet forums. But for a college paper -- and subsequently, a professional work environment -- learn to control those feelings.
 
This sounds like one of those stories people do to try and get a billion upvotes on Reddit.

"I swore on my college essay and my professor gave me a B!"


You actually swore on your college assignment? Assignments people of all ages and walks of life pay thousands of dollars for?
 
I'd need a heck of a lot more context for what was written, about what, and how, and why, but this is a silly thing to fail an essay for in the abstract.
 
Lol it didn't say I "couldn't" swear in the syllabus. It probably doesn't say that you shouldn't smear shit on the last page but that is also poor form.

Yes, that mindset of "it didn't explicitly mention xyz, ergo it must be fine" is ridiculous. The syllabus doesn't say to write in English. It doesn't say that writing a paper backwards in Zatanna style is not acceptable. It doesn't indicate that it's not good to attend class naked, and yet most people are able to figure that out without it being written in the syllabus.
 
Not all language is appropriate for all circumstances. Most college papers tend to require a more formal and academic tone, which precludes informal and casual language such as swear words.

Using swear words casually in a paper will likely cause problems with any number of professors and instructors.
Yes. The only exception is if you are writing fictional work, where swearing may be appropriate in certain storytelling circumstances.
 
I'd need a heck of a lot more context for what was written, about what, and how, and why, but this is a silly thing to fail an essay for in the abstract.

Disagree... it's completely unbefitting of an academic paper

We also know from the snippets and the confession that the OP was drunk and wrote it in 90 minutes that it's also likely that it was just a really poor essay and that the swearing was just part of that.

The level of vulgarity frankly would have been enough for me to at least fail any student who submitted that to me, and the F would come if the rest of the writing was shit too.

It is completely unacceptable... and it's better to learn now when the worst thing that happens is a bad mark versus in the real world where you could get fired, not hired, suspended, lose a contract, a gig, whatever.
 
I used to hide behind the excuse that my papers were as bad as they were because they were emotionally charged and therefore I could not write coherently. The truth is that is and will always be a really idiotic defense. Why? Because you have more than enough time to process your thoughts for a college paper. Unless your professor gave you five minutes to complete the writing assignment, I don't see how being emotionally invested is an excuse to write the way you did.

I had one-minute brainstorming assignments growing up and I don't ever recall feeling compelled to hurl expletives, although I did write rather informally, and I say this as someone who, for the majority of his childhood, dealt with depression and was often very angry. There's a time and place for everything and if you are truly feeling depressed as you said in a previous post, then I'd speak to a counselor, but going forward, please try to assert some type of professionalism and adhere to an academic standard when writing papers.
 
I really don't think you should be swearing on any academic paper OP, it's way too unprofessional. I think an F might be a bit harsh, but your paper should definitely be penalized for this.

edit: Also don't ever write any academic paper while you're drunk. It's seriously not a good idea.
 
I'll be blunt the level of incoherence in your argument against academic standards just proves the value of academic standards.

I didn't make an argument against academic standards... at all.

I'll write off "incoherence" on you being defensive about it.

Mentioning my personal experience with notes in languages&literature varying wildly from teacher to teacher has no bearing in other subjects, let alone high school.
 
Who the fuck curses in an academic essay? Yes, you deserve a F . Who taught you to write papers?


This thread went fast... wow.

Okay, so it looks like I'm in the wrong, but, this doesn't explain why I need to censor myself as a writer. Maybe I'm simply unfiltered but I think that's a good thing, I figured in high school you'd avoid that, but in college you're an adult, you can freely write how you want and get your opinions across without having to worry if you tailor it to whoever is reading it, since it's your work. Maybe I'm getting angry about nothing however I don't understand how your choice of language is something you can be penalized for. I re-read the essay and admittedly I recognize some things that could be fixed but even with that scrutiny and barring in mind this isn't my writing course a B seems perfectly fair. Have a read but I know I'm about to get dogged on like crazy regardless. No, I'll just post the relevant uses of swears. It's partially too personally and I'm not rewriting the damn thing.

"Watching the film was really sad, quite morbid, fucked up, and too close to home"

"It went from "I don't care about you" to "fuck you" and I still feel that
way to this day"

"They're awful, sickening, fucked realities"

"The emotional problems my REDACTED still suffers from REDACTED, I've came to the point
where if REDACTED REDACTED died today, right now, I wouldn't give a shit"

"Apologizes that are all bullshit and
emotions that end up with the person hurting more and more"
Woof, that writing is abysmal. This makes it seem like the paper is even worse, not better. The whole thing is barely even coherent.
 
I really don't think you should be swearing on any academic paper OP, it's way too unprofessional. I think an F might be a bit harsh, but your paper should definitely be penalized for this.

F for using curse words may be harsh, but the essay itself is poor enough to warrant that grade on its own. It's very poorly written and, well, not even really an essay.
 
You need to grow up, and fast.

Its higher education you are in, not a school playground. The vocabulary you use should be a lot more mature and you should be able to put your personal opinion in an essay or any of your work in a more eloquent way.

Swearing in any coursework should only be done if you are directly quoting someone, and even then there better be a good reason for choosing that quote.

But to then claim you were drunk when you wrote it? Man that is stupid, you will be out very soon if you keep that up.

Take the grade, learn what is required of you, mature, and don't write any coursework when drunk.
 
I also want to recommend you expand your reading, OP.

If you truly want to improve your writing then start reading everything.

This guy is fully of good advice it seems, OP. L-I-S-T-E-N to him.

One of the best ways to learn good writing is reading it. Hell, even mediocre writing gives you a good feel for sentence structure, punctuation and style.

Oh, and lastly sobriety leads to good grades. Its not a correlation, its pretty causative. You need to get on practicing it.

OP, if you take nothing else from this thread other than not doing college work drunk, then we can call it a victory, albeit a small one.

Leaving more than 45 minutes for writing an essay is pretty important too, but baby steps.
 
Bruh....

I swear my ass off in person and online, ever since I was a kid, and even I know not to swear for schoolwork or work work.

Bruh.... you played yourself. Is the F harsh? Yes, but let it be a lesson. Try to reason with the professor to get a rewrite grade, but you just might need to take the L here. You should know this shit by now as a college student.
 
"Fucked up" is a terrible descriptor because it doesn't actually describe anything.

But aside from the obvious, unless you're a total moron and learned to "write" from Tumblr rants, don't curse in academic essays.
 
If you feel so strongly about it, contest the mark and ask for a second member of staff to grade you. At best a second opinion would say that you fucked up but don't deserve an F, particularly for first offenses which perhaps you could plead but the lesson here is to write more professionally next time.
Personally I would give an F on it as well.

Think about it this way. If you feel so strongly about something that you cannot control your language then to me you are incredibly bias in your opinion already. Whether it is right or wrong doesn't matter, if I want to read a paper I don't want to read that and I wouldn't put much weight on what I read if it contained such language no matter how much proof and reasoning is given in it.
 
In one of my exams a few years ago (GCSEs, we take 'em in our final year of secondary school in the UK), I had to express my opinion on certain things such as the government (Conservative party at the time) and their flaws. I politely criticised them quite a bit and how they could be better. Did some damn good writing. Didn't even swear like you, OP.

This was a subject I always got A grades in.

I got an F.
 
If you feel so strongly about it, contest the mark and ask for a second member of staff to grade you. At best a second opinion would say that you fucked up but don't deserve an F, particularly for first offenses but will tell you to write more professionally next time.
Personally I would give an F on it as well.

Normally, I'd agree with this. But given his writing, I think it would end up worse for him.
 
Yeah, for an academic paper, swearing is a no no. In fact, assume that in most writing for a college or a job, swearing is a no no, because while there are some exceptions, it more than likely will not be well looked upon.
 
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